Abe Newman
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abenewman.bsky.social
Abe Newman
@abenewman.bsky.social
W/Henry Farrell, Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy (Holt 2023/Penguin); Georgetown; This is a private account.
Reposted by Abe Newman
More so than liberalism, the commitment to sovereignty itself seems to be changing. Of course it is Newman who lays out a clear way to think about this transitional era
1/This week has seen a blitz of what looks like corruption sandals: Saudi development deals for US military tech, Pakistani payments to Trump insiders for tariff relief, Swiss gold bars for a trade deal. Far from a payoff, this is a reordering of internat'l system.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
Whole 🧵 is 💯
November 18, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
This will be far from the last word on how to think about the future of the international order after Trump II, but it gives a more useful starting place than transactionalism, perhaps even than global illiberalism
1/This week has seen a blitz of what looks like corruption sandals: Saudi development deals for US military tech, Pakistani payments to Trump insiders for tariff relief, Swiss gold bars for a trade deal. Far from a payoff, this is a reordering of internat'l system.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
small groups of hyper elites protecting other hyper elites - see new work by @abenewman.bsky.social & Stacie Goddard
An ABC News reporter asked about U.S. intelligence findings that MBS ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump interrupted, attacked the reporter, then defended MBS: "He knew nothing about it. You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking something like that."
November 18, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Ramifications of Saudi deal cannot be underestimated.
"U.S. sale of fighter jets to Riyadh could upend [Israel]'s “qualitative military edge,” a long-standing American law that ensures Pentagon weapons ...do not erode Tel Aviv’s military advantages"
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Trump says he will sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia
The president's comments, which could antagonize Israel, come a day before he welcomes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White House.
www.politico.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
This book will change the way you see the whole world.
As we all crawl through the Cloudflare slowdown, it is a powerful reminder that the international economy is not flat but built around key chokepoints. And those chokepoints are sites of vulnerability as well as opportunity.
www.amazon.com/Underground-...
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy [Farrell, Henry, Newman, Abraham] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
www.amazon.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:45 PM
As we all crawl through the Cloudflare slowdown, it is a powerful reminder that the international economy is not flat but built around key chokepoints. And those chokepoints are sites of vulnerability as well as opportunity.
www.amazon.com/Underground-...
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy [Farrell, Henry, Newman, Abraham] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Underground Empire: How America Weaponized the World Economy
www.amazon.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
YES YES YES - great thinking, great research, real thinking-help here.
1/This week has seen a blitz of what looks like corruption sandals: Saudi development deals for US military tech, Pakistani payments to Trump insiders for tariff relief, Swiss gold bars for a trade deal. Far from a payoff, this is a reordering of internat'l system.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
great thread on how trump's personalist regime is playing out in the international arena. personalism as a mode of rule is not identical with, but is quite compatible with, reactionary policy agendas. it is this corruption we are going to need to CLEAN OUT

www.liberalcurrents.com/americas-pat...
November 18, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
Super important thread about why the rules-based international order was better than the system of royals that it replaced; and why oligarchs and grifters want to bring royalty back.
6/Neo-royalism asks what happens to international politics when small groups of hyper elites (royalist cliques) become the central actor in world politics rather than the state. In short, tribute/extraction and exceptionalism replace rules and sovereign equality. Its all about the squeeze.
November 18, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
Interesting way of thinking about the way power and authority has shifted under Trump. None of this can just be about him — there was a world ready and willing for this kind of transactional relationship-based power.
1/This week has seen a blitz of what looks like corruption sandals: Saudi development deals for US military tech, Pakistani payments to Trump insiders for tariff relief, Swiss gold bars for a trade deal. Far from a payoff, this is a reordering of internat'l system.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
Our New World Order😑
1/This week has seen a blitz of what looks like corruption sandals: Saudi development deals for US military tech, Pakistani payments to Trump insiders for tariff relief, Swiss gold bars for a trade deal. Far from a payoff, this is a reordering of internat'l system.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
New paper on “Neo-Royalism” by @segoddard.bsky.social @abenewman.bsky.social - looks related to Autocracy Inc by @anneapplebaum.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
The “old order” in this case being technocratic liberalism rooted in reverence for institutional stability via standardized rules & procedures, for epistemic deference to science & expertise, and for cosmopolitanism & politesse.
November 18, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
🧵
1/This week has seen a blitz of what looks like corruption sandals: Saudi development deals for US military tech, Pakistani payments to Trump insiders for tariff relief, Swiss gold bars for a trade deal. Far from a payoff, this is a reordering of internat'l system.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
“neo-royalism” 👀
5/Its easy (or difficult to swallow) this as corruption/crony capitalism. But in a new paper w/ @segoddard.bsky.social in IO, we argue these interactions suggest something much more fundamental -- a shift in the international order which we call neo-royalism.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:22 PM
1/This week has seen a blitz of what looks like corruption sandals: Saudi development deals for US military tech, Pakistani payments to Trump insiders for tariff relief, Swiss gold bars for a trade deal. Far from a payoff, this is a reordering of internat'l system.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
www.dropbox.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Latest Transatlantic Tremors: US Senate advancing Russia Sanctions, Ukraine buying French Jets and Albania coming one step closer to EU membership.

open.substack.com/pub/transatl...
11/17 US Senate advancing Russia Sanctions, Ukraine buying French Jets and Albania coming one step closer to EU membership
photo by Douglas O on Unsplash, showing the Albanian National History Museum in Tirana
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 1:34 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
In return for lower tariffs than those that Trump imposed or threatened, some Asian countries are accepting a surprising number and scope of Washington’s demands, writes columnist @agathedemarais.bsky.social.
Why Did Asian Countries Give Trump So Much on Trade?
The new deals contain unusual concessions that could change the flow of goods in Asia.
foreignpolicy.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:30 AM
In some ways, the Swiss story is even more concerning than the Saudi deal. These are the states that should be defending liberal norms. As they cave to neo-royalist tactics, they only embolden a new order that will undermine their interests.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...
November 15, 2025 at 2:43 PM
1/How to make sense of Saudi-US expose -- golf course licenses and real estate deals for a defense agreement and nuke tech? Enter the world of neo-royalism (www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/mxthh...)
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/w...
Trump Organization Is Said to Be in Talks on a Saudi Government Real Estate Deal
www.nytimes.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
Kate McNamara, Professor & author of The Politics of Everyday Europe, treats writing as a way of thinking clearly about power, markets & the ideas that connect them.

For her, writing isn’t easy, it’s a struggle, but one worth having!

🪶 New: catherineeunicedevries.substack.com/p/etched-in-...

🧵
Etched in Marble: Kate McNamara on Imagination, Compassion, and the Struggle Worth Having
Writers on the Forces That Shape Us and the Writing That Endures
catherineeunicedevries.substack.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:18 AM
As Russia continues to threaten the eastern flank of NATO with drone flights and bombings in Ukrainian cities, the US...reduces troops from Romania. The "political symbolism is a bit weird to have right now”. Ya think?
thehill.com/policy/defen...
thehill.com
November 11, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Abe Newman
👇👇
As Trump Admin uses mob-like tactics to threaten diplomats at international climate talks, important to reengage conversation on what is legitimate use of the economic weapon. New open access piece in JIEL w/Elena Chachko. (academic.oup.com/jiel/article...)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/c...
Trump Officials Accused of Bullying Tactics to Kill a Climate Measure
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:10 PM
As Trump Admin uses mob-like tactics to threaten diplomats at international climate talks, important to reengage conversation on what is legitimate use of the economic weapon. New open access piece in JIEL w/Elena Chachko. (academic.oup.com/jiel/article...)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/c...
Trump Officials Accused of Bullying Tactics to Kill a Climate Measure
www.nytimes.com
November 10, 2025 at 12:06 PM